Carroll County Digest

CARROLL COUNTY DIGEST

October 09, 2003

Student accused of scrawling threat on bathroom stall

A North Carroll High School sophomore was arrested yesterday and charged with vandalism and disrupting the school day. He is accused of scrawling a threatening message on the wall of a bathroom stall, school officials said.

Larry Faries, security coordinator for Carroll County public schools, said the boy was identified yesterday morning after authorities interviewed students, examined handwriting samples and watched tapes from school security cameras that captured images of students going into and leaving the boy's bathroom where the written threat was found Tuesday.

In an e-mail message to parents about 10:20 a.m. yesterday, North Carroll High Principal Gary Dunkleberger wrote, "While there is every reason to believe this to be a prank and not something to be taken seriously, we are taking all precautions." By 11:15 a.m., Dunkleberger had sent a second message to parents, saying that the person believed to have made the threat had been caught. He relayed a similar message to students at school over the intercom system.

The boy was charged as a juvenile, Faries said.

The threat, which Dunkleberger characterized in an interview as "a cry for help," referred to the entire school population and not a particular person, school officials and parents said. School officials declined to reveal what was written in the bathroom.

FEMA opens aid center for Carroll residents

The Federal Emergency Management Agency opened a Disaster Recovery Center in Carroll County yesterday to provide assistance to residents affected by Tropical Storm Isabel.

The center is at the Carroll County Emergency Services Training Center, 1345 Washington Road in Westminster. Hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Disaster Recovery Centers are designed to provide detailed program information to those who have applied for assistance under the federal disaster declaration made by President Bush on Sept. 19.

Residents affected by the storm should call 800-621-FEMA (3362), or TTY 800-462-7585. The number can be called between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. seven days a week until further notice.